23.00 23 More things for all

I have really enjoyed pretty much all of the 23 things. The new technologies and the collaboration and openness they promise are great new tools in the evolving mission of libraries. So, i humbly present 23 More Things: for your desktop, your Web 2.0 jones, and for (in the words of the gurus of 2.0) the future of libraries. Because the future of libraries, like the past, is one of putting information in people's hands, before people's eyes, and into people's minds.

I begin with 11 Desktop things for all you PC users out there in television land...

PS Please don't try to get thru these posts in one sitting -- save your eyes!

23.01 Click=Select, Double click=open

As Windows versions advance, Windows is becoming more Mac-like, so this may be out of date soon. When in the Windows operating system (which is your desktop, folders, and many other areas such as Accessories and Control Panel), it’s good to know that: When you bring your mouse over an icon, one (left) click selects that icon. A (left) double-click opens that icon. So double-clicking over your Word icon will open Word. Try clicking once, then double-clicking, on various icons to see the difference.

In general, double-clicks are rarely needed once in programs – MS office and Internet Explorer.

23.02 The Right Mouse Button

The Right Mouse Button is magic on PC’s. It does many things, and, of course, different things in different programs. But I like to think of the right mouse button as “that thing I use to pop up additional choices.” It does that in Windows operating system, in web browsers, and GroupWise. And lots of other programs too.

23.03 The Taskbar

The taskbar is the small bar that goes across the bottom of the screen. It features, left to right, the Start button, the Quick Start icons, the program panes, and the system tray (including the clock). Select (one click of left mouse) on a Quick Start icon to start a program. Left mouse on a program pane and you can jump from program to program in windows. Boring you say? Because the start button, and the clock, you already know? Well, wait till we see the system tray…

23.04 The System Tray

The System Tray is in the far right bottom of your screen. It shares space with the clock (and let’s face it we all love the clock, it’s how we see when it’s time to go home). In the System Tray are icons for processes that are running on your computer, and tools that will let you change some computer settings. When you mouse over a System Tray icon, a little popup will tell you what that icon is for. ‘Round here you will usually see Netware Services (big red N), Volume (to adjust your speaker volume), Remote Management (so DIT can fix your computer without driving all over everywhere), icons for your graphics card, for Novell Desktop tools, and for McAfee Anti-Virus, and a couple more. The System Tray is where wireless users go to pop up the “View Available Wireless Networks” feature. The System Tray is the quickest way to get to Print Manager (when there’s a print job in process). The System Tray is one part of your Windows desktop you will be glad you got to know.

One thing to remember – different computers will show different icons in the system tray. Use your left mouse, and right mouse, to explore the processes and tools in the System Tray. Especially…

23.05 NetWare Services (the Big Red N)

Right mouse on the Big Red N in the System Tray. Any of that sound interesting? Well, probably not. But if you are in a branch, and so perhaps sharing a computer, there is one important skill here. Right Mouse on the Big Red N and choose NetWare Login. Up pops a new login window. It’ll have, in the Username field, the username of the last person to log in to Novell on that computer. If it isn’t you, this is the way to relogon to Novell using your username. Unlike Horizon, doing this won’t close open windows – it’ll just work. And it’s handy because it lets you get to your personal Novell space. Your what, you say?

23.06 Your Personal Novell Space

Each Novell user has a personal folder on the F: Drive. Yours can only be accessed from a machine that you are logged into (and by DIT administrators, of course). It is backed up, and therefore a great place to put documents you don’t want to lose. Once logged into a machine, click the “My Computer” icon on the desktop. Under the Network Drives heading, you should see a folder with your user name. You can save files there, drag and drop files there, or just enjoy the emptiness. But don’t share files there – Novell has another place for that.

23.07 Share Drives (or, the G: Drive)

The share drives for the branches, and for specific projects, are easily accessible from any computer logged into Novell. Again, click the “My Computer” icon on the desktop. Under the Network Drives heading, this time, look for a folder called Lcg on Colmain 2. Double-click to open and look for LIBADMIN. Double click again and look for LIBRARIES SHARED. Then double click again. (I know – lotta double clicks. Making a desktop shortcut is # 23.09). You should now be looking at the main folder for all the library’s share drives.

The nice thing about share drives is multiple people can work on documents together, and you can share out a finished product without having to use email attachments, which clog up the strained GroupWise servers. Not that there’s anything wrong with attachments. The share drive space for your branch, like your Personal Novell Space, is backed up by DIT. As with your Personal Novell Space, you can save files there, or drag and drop files there – as well as accessing the documents others are sharing with you.

23.08 Portable Storage Media – or, why you really ought to use the backed up spaces on Novell

There are three types of portable storage media commonly used here: diskettes (often called floppies), CD, and USB or flash drives. Diskettes are an old format: they hold little, fail easily, and the quality control, both on diskettes and the drives they use, has really gone south. Stop using these! CD’s come in two flavors “Read only” and “Read/Write”. Files written to a “Read only” CD end up on a medium with a nicely archival feeling, since they cannot be overwritten and edited. But “Read Only” is not much use if you want to modify a file later. “Read write” is more flexible. I tend to think use of CD’s as storage media has peaked, though, because of USB/flash drives. Also called “dongles” and “key drives,” these devices plug into a USB port on your computer (usually on the front of the CPU) and in most cases, proceed to map themselves to a drive letter. To use a USB/flash drive, plug it in, wait while some popups keep you informed, and, when it’s ready for use (it’ll tell you), open it as a folder not unlike the way you opened the two Novell folders above.

USB/flash drives rule because they have the capacity of hundreds or thousands of diskettes, they are built to be rugged, and they are extremely portable. They’re getting less expensive all the time too. They aren’t that hard to lose, though, so if your files are important, they are still much safer on a Novell drive – yours or a share drive.

23.09 Desktop Shortcuts

Remember all that double-clicking to find the share drives? Really, you only need to do that once, and then make a desktop shortcut. If you’re using a network resource frequently, shortcut it. Just browse to the drive/folder that contains the folder you want to shortcut. Select the folder. Then, right mouse. From the pop-up menu, choose the “Send to” option, then select Desktop (create shortcut) from the pull-down menu. Then, you will have that shortcut on your desktop and won’t need to go searching each time you need the resources. (Note, like many things in Windows, there are other ways to create a desktop shortcut. The above is one way, but others are just as good).

23.10 Helper Apps and Plug ins

Sometimes you will get an email, or be using a web resource, and it will prompt you to download (or perhaps update) a program in order to view a file. The most common programs this will happen with are Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, and Shockwave. In an ideal world staff computers get these downloads (like our operating system and Office) automatically overnight. But if you’re using these at home, or haven’t gotten the upgrade automatically, panic not. Just follow the on-screen directions and the required programs will almost always download/update just fine. Watch out at the end of all these, they tend to want to install Yahoo or Google Toolbars. Just say no (unless you are at home, not the office, and know you really want these toolbars, which are, to some degree, spyware).

23.11 Application files in email or web browser windows

Again, just say no. Save these files to your My Documents folder by right-mousing, then using a Save As dialog. Once the files are sitting on your computer, you can open them in their native application (or at least, Acrobat Reader). You will get more printing options, more viewing options, more editing options (on editable files), and a ton more stability if you don’t view application files through GroupWise or a Web Browser. This is easy to do once you get used to it, and honestly, it works a lot better. (Because of how our public computers are configured, it’s less of a “slam-dunk” on those stations – using the in-browser viewer may be the best choice there).

23.12-20: More Web 2.0 Stuff

More web 2.0 stuff that we left out of the 23 things. Some of this you can explore, other stuff I am talking about because it seems to be big in the blogs on Library 2.0. For the record, this series is also my much delayed Thing 15 post.

23.12 Putting it Together: MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, etc

MySpace is the 3rd most popular Internet site in the US, and it’s pure Web 2.0. It combines features of blogging, wikis, audio and video sharing, and other technologies, and it’s whole reason for being is to bring together social networks (which leads to collaboration). Of course, since most of the social networks that live on MySpace are fairly small, it can be bewildering and tribal … it’s a web 2.0 site that only bands and teens can get, sometimes. Musician’s MySpace pages give a pretty good feel as what is possible on MySpace. If you’re exploring, keep in mind that vulgar speech is the norm.

23.13 Content focused social networking: Ning.

To generalize, Ning is MySpace for adults. Because adults don’t so much want to put forward their personality and see what social networks develop, but rather to join/create networks based on specific interests. So you’ll see Ning networks focused on Library 2.0, bicycling, management, and thousands more topics. Because there are more social networking features built in than one finds in blogger, for example, Ning could often be a better choice than blogger if you want your blog to be the center of a collaborative community – working, playing, or whatever else a community might choose to do. In the Web 2.0 Awards, Ning is listed as the winning Mashup. I don’t really see what makes it more of a mashup than MySpace or Facebook, but it does bring together content from different sources, and presents it in a compelling way.

23.14 Old-school Mashup You Can’t Beat: Google News

Mashups are not that new (Shakespeare’s tragedies are mashups of historical sources, perhaps), and even on the web some have been around for awhile. I really can’t live long without Google News, which mashes together content from newspaper/news websites into a straightforward, easy to grab list of headlines. It doesn’t replace the newspaper itself (too many good or important stories don’t appear unless you search for them), but for a quick check of the headlines? A look at the zeitgeist? What’s hot in technology and new in science? Google News can’t be beat. Check out the other nation’s Google News pages at the bottom of the US page … interesting to see how Canada, Australia, and the UK look at US stuff. Also check out the News Archive Search near the top of the Google News US page. But before you pay for an old newspaper article…

23.15 Mashup or Archive? Historical Newspapers from ProQuest

Google News Archive is a great tool, but it will push you to pay-to-view articles. LCPL has a subscription to ProQuest Historical Newspapers, which has full-text and image historical newspapers for free. New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times. So before you follow a Google News Archive link to a pay for an article from one of those newspapers, try your search in Historical Newspapers. It’s amazing how much can be found in a more than a century worth of daily papers. But I hear you cry… what’s Web 2.0 about a Proquest database?

23.16 Cross-Database Search: The Brain Wave Breaks!

If you haven’t tried the new improved cross-database search on the LCPL homepage, now’s the time. Someone (I presume someone who also takes Zoedoodle for a walk, perhaps along with my fellow Jefferson County commuter) has added categorization to the cross-database search. Now instead of a proof-of-concept, it is much more of a user-focused mashup of LCPL’s valuable database material. It has a Newspaper category – and also categories for Business, Health, Kids and Students. And the results display has been improved too. A mash-up of terabytes of data – sounds 2.0 to me. Useful for research, and yet fun to play with too.

23.17 Console gaming

Speaking of playing, a lot of Library 2.0 fans point to console games – Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation and their forbearers – as a feature of L2.0. LCPL has some experience using console gaming at the Cascades Teen Centers. Now, I can hear the question, what does video gaming have to do with libraries, exactly… and I can’t say that I really have an answer. Except that for our young users (and for us old users, if we are lucky) all experience has the potential to be a learning experience. The cognitive tasks associated with getting good at Pokemon Diamond, Madden 2007, or God of War are not small; and in many ways a lot more complex than those associated with being a power user of Horizon’s Information Portal. So why do games belong in libraries? It’s not the game, it’s the playing. And if they belong in the library for teen center, why not always?

23.18 More gaming: Madden NFL 2007 (for example)

I really don’t know that much about console gaming. I’ve played earlier editions of the football videogame Madden NFL and it was fun – the game is updated each year, so you can play using real football team rosters, and the videogame characters are programmed to have some of the skills and flair of the real people. And, it may go without saying, but I’ll say it, the graphics are stunning. But Rust’s former guard James Walker, a true devotee of Madden NFL 2007, tipped me off to features that I never knew, never dreamed, the game has. You can create your own player, and choose skills and abilities, which will grow (or diminish) based on in-game experiences. You can create whole teams using a part of the game that functions like the NFL draft. Of course, you can take on the game, or take on an opponent sitting next to you, but you can also take on opponents or teammates from around the world. This is because the console (Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation) is an Internet device, and with that comes almost unlimited possibilities for collaboration. So if the playing makes games a library thing, it’s the collaboration thru web technology that makes gaming a 2.0 thing.

23.19 Collaborative Gaming

With the collaborative features built into Madden NFL Live, the old school console game has, to some extent, turned into a Massively-multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, or MMORPG. MMORPG’s are clearly part of Web 2.0, and a walk past the public Internets during non-school hours will tell you, MMORPG’s are part of libraries, too. Our users are usually playing Runequest (a free, no-downloads required questing game), or Habbo Hotel (a free, no-downloads required game that is mostly about making friends and hanging out). In some ways, Runequest and Habbo are like the “junior” versions of market leaders World of Warcraft and Second Life … which can’t be played at libraries because (1) they require a software download and installation (2) they have limits on what can be done unless you’re a paying member and (3) they are, in general, not suitable for younger users.

23.20 Say it, don’t prepare it. And say it as a cartoon

Many Library 2.0 ponderers wax eloquent about getting their presence in MMORPG’s, and if this guy can do his talk show in the MMORPG of Halo2, why not? But I’m not entirely sold on the idea that the social MMORPG’s are really the “next Internet.” They are proprietary, hard to search, and seem a poor substitute for a walk along the C&O Towpath when the Virginia Bluebells are in bloom.

A couple of things libraries might take from MMORPG’s: (1) Spontaneous communication can be compelling: MMORPG users go on the web (their game) and every word and action they experience is new, in real time. (2) Avatars are good. In an MMORPG, your character is an avatar. Even the help can come from an avatar. People don’t seem to object to interacting and learning from avatars. Perhaps Dewey the Fox and Zoedoodle have bright futures in our 2.0 world.

23.21-23 The Present of Libraries: 3 things from Web 2.0 about organization

Many Library 2.0 ponderers in the blogs speak of the future of libraries, and that’s the direction to look for sure. They speak of how technology will change our missions, our tools, and our organizations. With the caveat that in meeting LCPL’s mission, we need not so much to change it as to recommit to it, I do have some sympathy with the idea that as collaboration, openness, and user-focus become more possible due to technology, we must take advantage of the strengths of these tools. I hope we can apply lessons from library 2.0 to the here and the now.

23.21: Collaborate. Now.

Blogs, wikis, flickr, tagging -- all those tools in the Web 2.0 awards - collaboration is the most easily identified common thread. For me, what I try to remember is that collaboration towards a common goal is what teams are made of. And LCPL has good teams all over the place. If the 2.0 world of collaboration is going to make things better, we need to keep in mind that as teammates work together, expertise and responsibility become shared, and every one becomes a leader. The more of that, the better.

23.22: Make it transparent

I wrote earlier that radical transparency is major shift in perspective, and I’m not putting my SSN on the web (or even my Horizon record). But as a professional practice, transparency has the potential to cut off the oxygen of many of the most pernicious practices in business organizations globally. When processes and decisions are in the open, there are no fiefdoms, no robbing Peter to pay Paul, no vindictiveness, no private agendas, no prejudice. And focus on how to explain, spin, and portray initiatives is replaced by focus on the initiatives themselves.

Utopian? Well sure -- but it seems a bir more grounded to be Utopian about the potential of transparency in organizations that to be Utopian about the potential of say, a gaming console or of flickr.

Of course, as AskAway shows, transparency does require respect… courage… candidness ... and shared commitment. But if we collaborate fully, those are things we’ll learn.

23.23: And it’s all about … the patron

Or the user, or the client or the consumer. Or the taxpayer. It’s funny how the Library 2.0 literature often makes this point as if it’s novel…since I was a volunteer at Woodrow Wilson library in 1973, I have known hundreds, maybe thousands, of library people who demonstrated this every day (well every work day – we all need time off).

I love books, I but I am not a bookseller. Yes, most of what we get into people’s hands is media objects, but we are not a media-distribution outlet – businesses do that. We are here to get information (be it data, knowledge, information, entertainment or wisdom) into people hands… or heads. The format doesn’t matter – a lecture or a Babygarten or an old-fashioned hardback, it is all good. We are an idea distribution outlet, and what matters is the people we are privileged to get the ideas to.

So I can only be enthusiastic about new ways to reach our users, collaborate with them, and become a community of ideas in partnership with them. The patron is more important than the format, as the Library 2.0 gurus say.

The patron is also more important than the process. Whenever a decision is made, the question library people need to ask is: Am I putting the process ahead of the patron? There are times this has to be done, but not nearly so many times as one might think.

If we are serious about keeping the library user at the center of what we do – and pretty much all the advocates of Library 2.0 start there – let’s be serious. Look at everything we do with the user’s eyes, and work together – collaboratively and openly – to develop the means to deliver to the user the information they need.

Some say Web 2.0 leaves us no choice, that collaboration and openness are inevitable, and perhaps so. But why would we choose any other path?

Thing 22: Ebooks

As the person who invented "Ebooks Week at Rust Library" I think this one is just a little unfair. Like every ref person in LCPL (and many circ and YS staff also) I have helped many a user create their netlibrary account, as well as help them learn to use Overdrive, Tumblebook Library, Gale Reference Library, and Learning Express (which are really interactive versions of their books, and therefore closely aligned with ebooks).

The ebooks that are most popular in LCPL are either best-best seller types in Overdrive, and tech/academic/business/computing titles in Netlibrary. The early adapters to ebooks are in tech/academic/business/computing, but that may also be because we don't own the material they are seeking in print, and they're just displaying the "platform agnosticism" that the millenial generation is known for. And our "agnostics" are millenial, genX, boomer and greatest, judging from people who ask to know more about our ebook offerings.

A shout out, too, to some of our databases that are full of text books, though they are not listed as ebook sources. History Resource Center US, History Resource Center World especially included thousands of full books in their primary sources tabs. Take a look sometime! And read an ebook today :) (or, you know a print one, because we are platform agnostic).

Two Bluebirds, a podcast poem

They roost first, then bolt on their fast wings
Churr churr lee she sings ah at last spring
Their perch-to-perch sally
I wish you could all see
Yourselves, or by using podcasting